German police raided people involved in a mining company this morning in connection with severe flooding last summer. Cologne prosecutors suspect that the company operating a gravel pit near Irfstadt is not complying with the regulations.
The company was not going to build a flood defense and would excavate so much soil that so much water could enter the quarry during a flood. The quarry was flooded, which is believed to have triggered a landslide on July 16 and also caused homes to collapse. There were also deaths in Irfastadt that day, but according to Bild, there were no deaths in these specific avalanches.
140 agents
The investigation focuses, among other things, on the owner and lessor of the open-pit mine. Documents are also confiscated from the regulator that grants licenses to these types of businesses.
About 140 police officers participated in the raids. Over 20 office and apartment buildings are searched in North Rhine-Westphalia and one in Thuringia.
hit hard
The area around Erfstadt was hit hard by rising waters last summer. More than 180 people were killed across Germany.
